MANETTI, TERESA MARIA DELLA CROCE, BL.

Baptized Teresa Adelaida Cesina, also known as Teresa di Firenze (Teresa of Florence), foundress of the Third Order Carmelite Sisters of Saint Teresa (Congregazione delle Carmelitane di S. Teresa); b. March 2, 1846, San Martino a Campi Bisenzio (near Florence), Tuscany, Italy; d. there, April 23, 1910. Daughter of Salvatore Manetti and Rosa Bigali, Teresa sought to alleviate the difficulties of others. In 1872, she retired with a few friends to the countryside, where they could pray, work together, and provide a Christian education to local children. Their formal religious community, founded July 15, 1874 with the arrival of other young women, combined the contemplative Carmelite spirituality of prayer and Eucharistic Adoration with apostolic work in parishes, schools, and mission fields. On July 16, 1876, Teresa was admitted to the Third Order of Discalced Carmelites and changed her name to Teresa della Croce. In 1877, the sisters opened their home to orphans. The first twenty-seven sisters were veiled in the Discalced Carmelite habit, July 12, 1888. In 1902, her special desire to have perpetual adoration was granted. Before her death, Teresa saw the institute receive approbation by Pope Saint Pius X (Feb. 27, 1904) and the first sisters leave to establish missions in Lebanon (1904) and Palestine (1907). The woman of fervent devotion and "angelic innocence" died at age sixty-four. Her writings were approved Nov. 27, 1937, and the beatification process opened in Rome in 1944. She was declared venerable in 1975 and a decree issued on the approval of a miracle in Nov. 1985. Pope John Paul II beatified her at Florence, Italy, Oct. 19, 1986.

Feast: April 23 (Carmelites).

Bibliography: Acta Apostolicae Sedis (1986) 1144. L'Osservatore Romano, Eng. Ed. 39 (1986) 9.

[k. i. rabenstein]